Starshollow's 24 Hour Dance Marathon
by supermassiveblackholee
Summary: What happens when Dean is no where to be found when Lorelai's shoe breaks? Read to find out!R
1. Chapter 1

To the readers.

**I know that everyone out there (or crazy people like me hehe) when they see this episode rewrite it in their head the way they think it would have been better. This is basically that; around 2am one morning I got the idea and grabbed my journal and began to write and put the idea on paper before I passed out of exhaustion. The first two chapters are short because it's both of their reflections on what went down, but after that I promise they get longer. I'm only posting the first two chapters until I get reviews on rather or not you guys want more; the story is complete I just have to put it on here. I really hope you enjoy this and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW.**

Chapter one-

She runs her finders along the edge of the envelope. She looks down at a box full of eighteen other envelops each addressed to the same person; and like one another never reached their destination. The contents of the envelope make her stomach flip and heart race like a humming bird when she even thinks about it. This is mostly because it forces her to think about what could have been. What might have happened if all these bottled up feelings that had been put into words had reached the person who caused them? Maybe she wouldn't have to see that blond hag sucking his face off. Her heart wouldn't go into overdrive every time his name is spoken, but maybe either way that would happen. She definitely wouldn't be sitting here at 3 am in the morning in her closet looking at these abandoned letters that haunt her.

They haunt her of her very cowardly ways; the overwhelming guilt causes her stomach to collapse. If she had just been brave and stood up for what she truly wanted, she wouldn't be living under this burden, this lie, anymore. She puts the letters away in the very back of her closet. She knows she has a big day ahead of her; it's the Starshollow 24 hour Dance Marathon. Her mom forced her into being her partner with a guilt trip; oh that's all she needed another thing to add to her conscience. But Dean, good o'l Dean will be sure to eagerly watch her every move from the sidelines. Another wave of guilt, a way too familiar feeling, crashes over her again at this thought. She was pulling Dean along in her little charade, and without meaning to had fooled him as well as herself. Who was she kidding? This was like the calm before a very violent storm. Before you know it the first crash of thunder hits, and lightening strikes. The result always leaves someone hurt.

Please keep reading the story starts out slow but I promise It's worth it, stay with me here!


	2. Chapter 2

**This is Jess's view on things. Please Enjoy and Review; if you like it I have much long chapters I'll post continuing the story. Just let me know what your think! Thankyou!**

Chapter 2-

"God damn! I don't think I've been able to sleep in these past three months!", he thinks to himself outraged. " Ever since she kissed me and ran off the Washington, I've been staring at this same ugly water stained ceiling all night thinking about her. About the way her face lip up when she saw me. How her breathing was ragged when she asked me why I was back and the nervous vibes rolling off her. How her arms felt, smooth as silk, when they pulled me against her. How her soft lips felt when they forcefully crashed against mine and caused our worlds to collide. But I'll never forget the look of pain and confusion that filled those beautiful blue eyes of hers. The way she pulled away from me and ran away leaving me behind, and broken." Since that day he hadn't slept even when she got back from Washington; the feeling worsened.

She was still with Dean, and he was still using Shane as a distraction. Luke has mentioned something earlier about a Dance Marathon down at Starshollow High. He knew she would be there; not by choice but a very convincing mother. She would probably be dancing with that tower of a boyfriend of hers. He felt sad, cold, but most of all hopeless. He was Jess Mariano for Christ sake! He wasn't supposed to feel, but that's all he did anymore since Rory Gilmore had walked into his life." Something in his gut told him to go, to fight even if it was a lost cause. He quickly dialed Shane's number; he knew she'd be up dyeing her hair or something.

"Hello?", Shane answered in an annoyed tone.

"Hey I want to go to that Dance Marathon thing today".

"What the Hell, why?"

"I don't know, could be a good laugh or something."

"Fine whatever!", she sighs, "You owe me big baby!".

"Sure, fine see you later", he sighs and hangs up the phone.

Communication wasn't exactly the strong point of their relationship; in fact they didn't really have one. He only asked her to come so he wouldn't like a pathetic loser vying for Rory's attention. But then again, maybe that's what he was. Plus he knew it would bother the crap out of her if Shane was next to him. Jess smirks to himself; this was going to be interesting.


	3. Chapter 3

**I know I only have five reviews so far in responce, but I couldn't help myself haha! Here's a bit of a longer chapter I promised, there are much more just PLEASE REVIEW and let me know what you think! Thank you so much!! **

Chapter 3-

Rory looks in the mirror at the slight darkness under her eyes. "I guess that's what happens when you get two hours of sleep", she thinks to herself glumly. She splashes ice-cold water onto her zombie like features hoping to reawaken the horror movie she had caused. She applies a thin layer of powder on her face to cover the dark circles. Inspiration takes over, and something inside Rory burst and she smiles. She grabs the not-often used eyeliner and applies a thin line to her upper and lower lids. She twists off the cap to her mascara and applies a coat on her dark lashes. Finally she grabs the lipstick, a soft strawberry shade, and puts a small amount on her lips to give them a little color. The red vintage dress hanging on her door is calling her name, and she quickly answers by pulling it on. The silky material clings to her every curve and the delicate material is gorgeous with her skin tone. She unpins the curlers out of her chestnut hair and styles them to where they frame her face. She looks in the mirror at this new creature that has emerged; one she has never seen before. She smiles a sly grin at the unfamiliar girl in the mirror and flicks the lights out before returning to the living room to meet her mother.

"Oh my god, tell me I'm not trapped in an episode of Sex and the City or I might just have to call you Charlotte! Babe you look gorgeous!", Lorelai greeted her daughter, " You ready to go?" Rory almost nods yes before remembering something, something she knew was important. "Yeah, one second Mom. I think I left my new sweater on my bed!", Rory shouts on her way to her room. "Alright sweetie hurry I'll meet you out front!", Lorelai shouts in answer before exiting their home. Rory soon returns out of her room while shoving something into her sweater pocket, and meets her mom out front of the house. They begin walking to Starshollow High where it was being held. "Too. Early. Must. Kill.", Rory moans into her mothers shoulder that is supporting her. Her mother smiles, "It will all be over before you know it sweets, as long as we get that beaaauutifull trophy."

The two girls check in and get their numbers pinned on as soon as they arrive. "LUUKEEYY!", Lorelai squeals as soon as she enters the gymnasium and spots her coffee provider Luke. "I told you to stop calling me that", he gripes in response. Rory, though leaning on her mom, isn't paying attention to the bickering between the two o f them. She is scanning the bleachers and sure enough Jess was seated at the bottom of the bleachers with Barbie laying down next to him; her head in his lap. After a moment Jess notices her gaze and shifts his eyes up to meet hers. His deep brown eyes cause a shiver to roll down her spine, and she quickly turns away. Jess curses to himself and looks down and begins to play nervously with his hands. Soon Taylor yells through his megaphone, "Dancers take your places now, or forever hold your peace!", he slurs. "Looks like Taylor hit the whisky a little early this year!", Lorelai giggles into Rory's ear. All she can manage in return is a weak smile. After chugging down a couple cups of coffee the girls skip off to the main dance floor to take their places. Kirk is doing push-ups and giving himself a pep talk; he is unaware of all the confused glances from the rest of the dancers. This causes Lorelai to have another fit of giggles, but she soon realizes Rory isn't laughing with her.

"Babe, what's the matter with you today? You look great but the attitude is lacking. Where's all the trash talk we rehearsed yesterday? You should be talking smack by now not mopping." "Mom I'm really fine, seriously. It's just... just early really I promise", Rory replies, her voice a million miles away. Before they know it, the countdown begins. "3...2...1! Woooo!", all the dancers chant in unison. Peppy Jazz music flows to every inch of the building, raising everyone's spirits; except Rory's of course. Everyone begins to dance and build into warm chatter as the marathon takes off. Rory looks over where Jess and Shane are once more, in the same position as earlier. This glance does not go unnoticed by Jess. He meets her eyes like earlier and gives her a smirk, which causes her heart to flutter. No one could smirk like Jess; it always made her body feel like Mrs. Patty's lime jello. She quickly changes positions with her mom, her back now facing him. This would make things a lot easier on her heart if she didn't have to look at him.

**I really hope you enjoyed it! If you liked that, chapter four is even better, much more stuff happens. Sorry if it's starting out slow, it's just to introduce everything I promise it picks up next chapter. SO PLEASE REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW and let me know what you think. I'm not posting chapter four till I hear if you guys want more so please do! Thankyou you guys are great!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thankyou so much to everyone who has been reading this story and reviewing especially! Here is chapter four I hope you enjoy, please review and tell me what you think! **

Chapter 4-

It's only four hours into the dance marathon, and already everyone is dancing a little slower. "Rory!", a familiar voice calls her name. She snaps her head off it's resting spot on Lorelai's shoulder to see no other than Dean. "Dean, hey", she replies unenthused as her and her mother dance over to where he is standing on the sideline. "I'm so sorry I'm late! Clara was being a pain in the butt again about going to horse back riding lessons." "It's fine Dean really, you haven't missed a thing."; Rory forces a smile. "Great! I don't want to miss a single thing!", Dean says eagerly and pecks Rory quickly on the cheek and takes a seat on the closest bleacher. Rory's heart sinks and she manages to send another forced smile his way. Lorelai senses the shift in moods and leads her back to their spot they were dancing at previously. She gives Rory a spin causing Jess to be in her direct sight once again.

She bites at her lip nervously and tries to understand what Jess's eyes are conveying. "God she looks amazing", Jess thinks to himself. He notices how the dress fits her like magic. His thoughts begin to run off to other places they often roamed to and grins after letting out a short sigh. "Wonder what he's thinking about", Rory says aloud. "Who babe?" "Jess! He's here!", Rory says a little angrier than she meant to. "So what? He's being entertained by Anna Nicole Smith over there, so that means no trouble for today at least". "That's not the point, he keeps staring at me! He's trying to get in my head or something." "Honey, you know I don't like him, but have you noticed that you seem to be looking at him too?", Rory doesn't pay attention to Lorelai's statement, and instead continues staring Jess down. "I mean I know it's bizarre but maybe you have feelings for him" Lorelai says honestly. This comment by Lorelai catches Rory off guard. "What? NO! Are you kidding me?!", Rory hisses to Lorelai, acid leaking into her voice.

"Calm down babe, okay. I'm just a third party observer and I could be wrong. It would be one thing if only I noticed it, but all of town whispers about you guys having a thing for each other. Patty is convinced you guys are secret lovers who do bad things in the storage room at Luke's. Don't get me wrong, these are all psychotic and hopefully not true. But is it crazy to think you guys might have a thing for each other I mean look at the way you guys look at each other it's enough to make puppies gag." Rory takes in slowly what Lorelai is saying, and she finally surrenders. "Mom, the thing is I...", just then the horn goes off announcing a ten minute break. "Go clear your head kid, we must win that trophy, my precious!", Lorelai ends the statement with her best lord of the rings impersonation. "Right, I will.", Rory says before walking towards the gym door to the common area.

Just before she exits she feels someone tap her shoulder and she turns around to see Dean. "Hey Rory, you looked great dancing out there!" "Hi, uh thanks I was barely moving though." Rory says a little harsh. "Well either way I enjoyed the view", he says in an attempt to be seductive. Rory cringes at his words "Hah, uh well uhm I'm going to get some food." "Want some company?" _No!_ "Yeah sure", Rory replies as Dean protectively slips his around her waist. They walk like this until Rory sees Lane handing out sandwiches at a table. She breaks away from his embrace and runs to give her best friend a hug. "Rory you look so pretty ahhh!", Lane squeals with enthusiasm. "Thankyou!", Rory replies. "So how is the sandwich thing going?" "Oh you know, fabulous! It's the only way I'd want to spend my Saturday!", she replies with sarcasm. " I'm sorry! I'd gladly trade places with you right now and stop dancing with the crazy competitive five year old mother." Lane laughs, "Well I guess everything has a down side, and speaking of major downsides did you notice how Jess and Shania or whatever her name is are here?", Lane says with disgust. "Oh how could I not, when he is staring me down the whole time?! I think he is purposely trying to distract me so I lose the trophy or something. I'll get disqualified if I leave the floor and attack him with my heels right?" Lane's face is dumbfounded. "Oh he wants you to lose more than a trophy, try a boyfriend. He so wants you Rory, how can you be so blind? Everyone can see it, even Dean over there can. he just denies it like any guy would." At the mentioning if his name Dean snaps out of his daze and walks over to join the girls. "I heard my name, what you guys talking about?", he asks a little anxious. "Oh you know, girl stuff, cute boys, the latest dirt.", Lane replies casually.

Rory sends her a thankful look. "Well speaking of dirt...", Dean says in his usual tone when Jess was around. Jess and Shane approach the group and Jess is first to speak. "Why hey there gang! This marathon sure has turned out to be a big shebang don't you think?" Dean mutters something rude under his breath; Rory is frozen speechless. As always Lane has something to say and answers to his mockery with "Go away Jess, no one wants you here." "Oh ouch that one hurt, watch where you aim that thing!", Jess says dramatically. " Oh, ha ha ha funny!", Lane says un-amused. "If you didn't hear before let me help you understand. No one wants you here, now be gone.", Dean says with authority. Jess's eyes glances over at the unusually quiet Rory. "What about you Rory, do you want me here?", Jess says casually but they both know there is a deeper meaning,

Thousands of things immediately fill both of the teen's minds at once. Rory glances down at Jess's lips while remembering how electrifying they felt on hers. Jess licks his lips, this is too much for her to handle. "I... I need to use the bathroom", Rory mumbles quietly and runs to the restroom area. She rushes in and looks in the mirror at her face, which is extremely flustered, but her makeup is still in tact nicely. "God, I can't face him when he's with her, it's killing me!", she whispers to no one in particular. "All dancers, I repeat all dancers, big small long tall lmnopqrstuvwxy and z come to the gym now we are about to get this show back on the road!", Taylor slurs on his megaphone. After another reassuring look in the mirror, she runs out into the empty commons area, and then sprints into the gym where Dean is waiting for her. "Oh gosh, I really don't need this right now. Go away please just this once!", Rory thinks to herself helplessly. "Rory! Are you okay? Back there you just kind of ran off and I was so scared I didn't know what happened.", Dean rambles on. "I'm fine Dean I was in the bathroom!", Rory says defensively.

She runs over to her mother where she is waiting for her on the dance floor. "Babe what's wrong?", she asks as soon as her daughter jumps in her arms. " Ugh, nothing let's just get this over with!" "That's the spirit!", she says to her grumpy daughter with a laugh. The music starts back up and signals for the dancers to begin dancing once more. Rory is emotionally and physically drained. She knows he is probably looking at her; most likely confusion filled those chocolate eyes of his. She had looked like a fool and she knew it. She is too frightened to look at those eyes again; afraid the moment she does the truth will come spewing out. So for now she closes her eyes and gets lost in the music while drifting off. Her mother holds her daughter's sleepy frame up completely. Rory can feel his eyes on her and it's burning down into her core. For a short while, she some how manages to forget everyone in the room's presence, even Jess's. **(Just a note: I wouldn't be able to forget his presence haha!)** Her mind is at ease and body is at peace. But this is all suddenly broken by a loud "snap!".

**DON DON DONNNN!! Haha cliffhanger, but I think anyone who has seen the episode knows what happens. If you haven't you must keep reading once I put up chapter five. Please let me know what you guys thought about this chapter, I really appreciate it. I'll try and put chapter five up soon. School starts for me on the 25th so I might have to cram in as many chapters as I can! Thankyou so much and please please REVIEWW. Love you guys thanks! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, I'm so sorry this took so long to update. I know it sounds like an excuse, but honestly school has been taking up all of my time anymore! All my free time goes to sleeping, but now I've decided to spend it on updating this. Here's my favorite part of the story, I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please Review, thankyou!**

Chapter 5-

"Dammit, dammit, dammit dammit!", Lorelai said in rage. "Mom, what?!", Rory asked at her mom's horrified expression. "My shoe broke! The damn lady said they were new! Oh my god the entire heel is completely snapped off!", Lorelai shrieked. "Mom if you fall I fall!" Lorelai thinks for a moment and soon responds with relief. "I'll use the yellow card sweets, Luke can fix my shoe for me and I'll be back in ten minutes at most!" "But I can't stand on my own!" "Neither can I babe, I'm so sorry. I'll kill us both if I don't fix this!" Lorelai said breathlessly. "Dean! Dean!", she shouted for her daughter's boyfriend. The whole room seems to be staring at the girls attempt to stay in the contest. The girls look every which direction looking for Dean, but he is nowhere to be found. "Why is he always there when I don't need him, but when I finally do he..." Rory trailed off bitterly to herself. "Jess!", Lorelai yelled in his direction. "What? No mom please, have you lost your mind!?", Rory asked terrified. "Sweetie I'm desperate, and you obviously can't even stand on your own! I'd ask Luke but he just ran to the diner to get some superglue!" Rory let out a defeated sigh and closed her eyes.

"Jess!", Lorelai repeated louder this time. He looks up alarmed and confused. "Jess please come here, I need you!", Lorelai begs. Jess looks over at a slumbering Shane and walked over to where the two girls struggled to stay vertical. "Can you please dance with Rory until Luke fixes my shoe?", Lorelai asks impatiently. Jess smirks and begins to turn around and return to his seat. "Jess I know you hate this town, and everyone in it for that matter. You were forced to come here, and had no say in any of it. But I happen to know for a fact you like Rory. So if you don't want to do this for me, do it for her.", she said exasperated. It was all Jess needed, all the motivation he'd ever need. He returned closer to the girls and took Rory into his arms. He pulled her against his chest and let out a long breath. "Thank you, Jess", Lorelai whispered as she hurried off the dance floor. Meanwhile, Rory was in complete shock. She had no idea what to say to this boy. This boy, who had captured her heart with a simple Oliver Twist quote. The one who left her speechless with his wit. The one who left her breathless with his smile. But mostly, this boy who could crush her with a single word, or make her soar with a single kiss. Her heart races in her chest, and he can feel it against his own. Every inch of her skin is in goose bumps. "I'm so...", Rory clears her throat. "I'm sorry you had to do this Jess", she mumbles into his chest but her statement is still audible. Hearing her say his name causes his insides to shift.

"No, it's fine. Well, more than fine actually. I, uh just." His answer shocks Rory and causes her to look up. Succumb; she gave in and looked into those deep brown eyes."Why did you come here tonight?", Rory asks unsure. She feels the most vulnerable and terrified she ever had in her entire life waiting for his answer. He closes his eyes and sucks in a breath. He finally opens his eyes once more, only to reply "I don't know". "Did you come here to mess things up even more with me and Dean?" "What do you mean, even more?" "Before you even got here things were messed up. He's jealous, controlling, and I just don't even know. I can't relate to him in music, books, movies or anything. Not the way I can with…" "With?", Jess asks curiously. "With you", she replied shyly. Silence sets over; the most complete and comfortable silence either of them has ever experienced. "Rory, why have you been avoiding me since you got back from Washington then?" "I'd like to ask you the same question, but I already know the answer". "Which is…?" "Shane, you have Shane now. She has made it more than easy for you to forget about me." Her face says it all; despair, pain. Jess can no longer fight down what he has been suppressing since the day she got back. With a deep breath he begins "Rory you are confusing the hell out of me! First, jess shutters, you kissed me, and then you beg me not to tell anyone while you run off to Washington! No letters, no emails, no phone calls, and no freaking messages in a bottle from you! You come back here and run right back into the arms of Dean and prance around this town like you guys are high on magic fairy dust!

Did you expect me to wait around for you like Dean would? If you haven't realize by now I'm not Dean, and thank god for that!". Jess takes another breath; he realized he had raised his voice to almost a shout. He looks at the position of his hands; he is gripping on to this girl for dear life, and there is no space between them. Everyone's eyes are following their every move, but both are unaware of this. "You're right, right about everything. I didn't call you, I did run back into Dean's arms, and I messed up big time. But now it's too late.", Rory's voice broke off. "Rory I didn't mean to yell, it's just you and I and you said…" "No, stop. I shouldn't have expected you to wait on me. I'm not worth it, I didn't deserve for you to." "Rory", Jess says just above a whisper." How can you say that? How can you not see how much I want you? How much I want to be with you? Since they day I moved to this whack job town you were the only thing that kept me from pulling a Kurt Cobain. I know that we were meant to be, you know we were. I'll break up with anyone, anytime for you. I want you so bad. He moves his lips just an inch from Rory's. "I need you Rory", Jess pleads.

"Rory, what the hell is going on here?!", Deans voice booms through the gymnasium.

**I split this chapter up; originally chapter 5 was much longer but I made it into 2 chapters. Please review, I hope you guys enjoyed it! I'll put chapter 6 up as soon as I can. Thankyou (:**


	6. Chapter 6

Hey I know I sound like a broken record, but I'm so sorry this took so long! I'm going to make this short so everyone can read the final chapter, but I hope everyone had a Happy Holidays and are healthy, wealthy, wise, etc (I'm sounding like my dad right now). Also to the reviewers who offered to be a beta, thank you so much, but for this story I'm just going to finish it in the bulky paragraphs (sorry, I'll try and make this chapter a little less bulky!).I'm posting a new story Rory/Jess story very soon, and I promise the format will be much clearer. Anyways, here's the final chapter to the story I hope you guys like it, **PLEASE REVIEW!**

_**(Last Time)**_

_"Rory, what the hell is going on here?!", Deans voice booms through the gymnasium._

* * *

Rory looks up to see Dean towering over both her and Jess, who had quickly broken apart. She looks over to Jess who is looking back at her with the same shock filled eyes; the room is spinning. Had the past ten minutes actually occurred here in reality, or would she be waking up any minute to the ever annoying sound of her alarm clock. Suddenly, a mental image of herself cursing at her alarm clock for interrupting the best dream she has ever had popped into her head.

"Dean, mom's shoe broke and she had to use a yellow card to go off with Luke to fix it.", Rory spoke in a soft cowardly voice. "Well Taylor explained that just one of the dancers has to be on the dance floor, not dancer and scum bag.", Dean bites directing it at the both of them. "But I couldn't stand on my own without falling over! I'm exhausted, and my mom yelled for you, but you weren't here! Her only choice was Jess cause Luke ran off to the diner to get some glue!", Rory says with a little more confidence this time. "Well excuse me Ro-ry", Dean says sarcastically, "but Clara needed a ride to Ballet, and it never really crossed my mind that my girlfriend could manage to cheat on me in that period of time."

"Cheat!?", Rory shouts, "How is me and Jess dancing cheating?", Rory demands outraged. Dean raises his voice louder than he has all night, "Because it's Jess! It's not some random boy off the street, it's Jess! Because I can see it, I've seen it since the day you introduced me and him! He wants you, you want him. You have some unhealthy connection I've never been able to have with you. Now tell me how you dancing with a guy you have mutual feelings with isn't cheating? Huh Rory? Going to speak up now?!?"

Rory is frozen just staring at this boy she thought loved her. How could he speak to her this way, if he cared for her at all? Tears are welling up in her big blue eyes, and she looks down at her shoes. "Look man, me and Rory weren't doing anything! Her mom begged me to dance with her, Rory had nothing to do with it. You can stop with the concerned, jealous Boy Scout for today, you already earned your badge.", Jess says quickly defending Rory. Rory looks over at Jess, in awe of the way he stood up for her.

"You know what? We're over. I hope you two are very happy together.", Dean yells looking right at Rory. He storms out of the gym, followed by a dumbfounded Shane who must have witnessed the whole fight. Rory looks up at Jess, completely broken inside. He nods his head in the direction of the gym doors, "You can go after him, go ahead.", he says hopelessly. "No, I think I'm good", Rory says surprising both him and herself. She's not sure if she should cry or scream right now; the feeling pulsing hot through her veins makes her want to chase after the bag boy and beat him with a bat. "You can go after Shane though, don't let me stop you", Rory says looking at Jess again. "Naw, I'm good. Never liked her much anyways.", Jess says honestly to her. "Really?", Rory asks, hope replacing that feeling in her stomach. "Yeah", Jess smiles a little "Really". Jess wipes a single tear off of her cheek.

"Rory and town hoodlum, please escort yourselves off the dance floor. You guys ain't got the jazz anymore, so you are OUTTA THERE!", Taylor yells into his megaphone while doing the baseball umpire hand motions of only god knows what. Rory and Jess slip off the dance floor before an even bigger scene is made with a very wasted Taylor. They walk to the commons area where Rory grabs her coat and puts it on. She was already thinking of a way to explain to her mom of how she and Jess had lost the trophy. She turns to see that Jess is waiting on her, her mouth feels like cotton and she doesn't know what to say to him anymore.

"Rory, you know I..."

"Don't. You don't have to say anything. Just promise me you'll read this", Rory says while taking something out of her coat pocket and cramming it into his hands. She runs out of the doors of the school tears already falling. "Why do I always run away?", she thinks to herself.

Jess stands in the place she left him at for a few moments before looking down to see what she had given him. It was an envelope addressed to him, dated back in the summer. The return address was some hotel he had never heard of, but was located in Washington D.C. Jess pushes it down to the bottom of his pocket and begins to walk home; his mind is racing. He enters the diner to see Luke and Lorelai still attempting to mend her broken heel. "Hey Jess! Is the marathon over already?", Luke calls out to his nephew. Not answering his uncle, he runs up the stairs to the apartment and shuts the door behind him. He walks over to his bed and jumps on it eagerly. He pulls the envelope out of his pocket and he opens it slowly. He hesitantly unfolds the contents of the envelope and looks upon what appears to be a letter. He takes a deep breath, and it reads:

_June 18th_

_Dear Jess,_

_ I don't know if you were or weren't expecting a letter from me, but here goes. I'm sorry if I hurt you in any way by not telling you that I was going to Washington. I'm pretty sure I hurt myself even more by running away from you after the kiss at Sookie's wedding. You suddenly appeared by the pond at the Inn, just when I thought I wasn't going to see you again. I don't think words can describe what I felt the first moment I saw you standing there; it was out of a dream or something. When I was standing next to you, all the memories of my visit to see you in New York flooded into my mind. And then the reason for visiting you finally became clear and I kissed you. Everything in the world was finally perfect to me; but it dawned on me the situation and I freaked. I ran away because I was terrified. Terrified that I was falling for you, even harder than I ever had with Dean or anyone for that matter. If I could change anything about that day, it wouldn't have been us never kissing; it would have been me not running away and choosing you. I don't know if you're sorry it happened, but I know one thing for sure; I'm not. _

_Love,_

_Rory_

Jess Mariano for once in his life could not breath, think, speak, or move. He caught his breath, unable to control his actions, grabs the phone and dials. Ring...Ring...

"Hello?", it was Lorelai who had answered.

"Hi uh, is Rory there?"

"No, I think she is actually out right now. Can I take a message?"

"Oh no thanks, bye.", Jess hangs up in a hurry.

He runs out of the apartment, fueled by the fact that he knows exactly how he feels. He doesn't bother telling Luke that he is going out, and if Luke had said anything to him on the way out, he wouldn't have noticed. He made his way to exactly where he knew she'd be.

It's dark outside, Jess has forgotten if it's A.M, or P.M. The air is cool and crisp, the humidity already creeping upon his skin. The water is rocking lightly against the bridge when he arrives. He sees her sitting at the end of the bridge; still an image of beauty. He takes a few steps onto the rotting wood of the bridge and she turns around. Her face is unreadable from this distance so he begins to approach her. She stands up and whispers his name into the darkness. He finally closes the distance between them and is standing right in front of her. With a smirk he begins,

"So you did write me." It wasn't a question, but she decided to give him an answer.

"Yeah, I did. There are eighteen ones where that came from, if you are interested.", her pulse is pounding in her ears, but she can still hear the unease in her own voice.

"Oh, I'm very interested", Jess says only above a whisper.

"Yeah?", Rory says with smile.

"Yeah", Jess says returning her smile with a genuine one of his own.

He wraps his arms around her and pulls her forcefully against himself. She puts her hands on either side of his face and pulls his lips to hers. They begin to kiss passionately; all the built up feeling in each of their bodies finally having an exit. They come up for air, but Jess quickly pulls her in for a single kiss that contains so much feeling both of them are left completely breathless. Jess rests his forehead against hers; the only sound in this perfect moment is the sound of their ragged breathing. Jess gives her a seductive grin, and Rory's knees grow a little weak.

"What are you smiling at, Dodger?", Rory asks with a mischievous grin of her own.

He answered by pulling her against him once more and pressing his lips roughly against hers.

* * *

**The end (:**

I hope you guys liked it! Please review and let me know what you guys think. Also keep looking out for a new Jess and Rory story, I should have chapter one posted in a couple days! Thank you so much!


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